Red
by A-Colour-4-Crazy
Summary: Red. The colour of love and passion, of danger and blood. The colour which seemed to describe them perfectly. Tell me: can you describe the colour red without using the word itself?
1. Chapter 1: The Before

Standard disclaimers apply

* * *

 **The Before**

He met her in winter, when even the numbing wind could do nothing to quell her warmth. It burned through the cold and seemed to melt the snow around her. He had always felt most at home in winter: it was cold like him, and it was seemingly unfeeling, like him. She was in every way a juxtaposition to winter, she challenged the harsh wind and thawed ice with so little as a sideways glance. He knew approaching her was foolish, that he would be melted by her warmth like ice cream in summer, and yet he was drawn to her like an infant to their mother's embrace, like a bee to a rose garden. And melt he did.

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Author's Note: I know this is very short, but I suppose for the moment it's just a taster. This story has been something I've been thinking about for a very long time now but only just got to publishing, it's an experiment and most of the characters will be slightly (and sometimes a bit more than slightly) out of character. So far I have written around nine chapters (though some are incredibly short) and intend to publish them each week (hopefully this should give me enough time to keep on top with the writing).

Thank you for reading.

Chia


	2. Chapter 2: His Winter and Her Spring

**Chapter 2**

* * *

 **His winter and Her spring**

"What does snow become when it melts?" she asked, her gaze not leaving the frozen stream as she stood on the railing of the bridge, leaning over slightly (as though emulating the way a flower leans into the sunlight) to rest her fragile ribs on the cold metal.

It was the first time she had even acknowledged his presence next to her since his approach, and whilst he was hardly convinced the question was aimed completely at him, the absence of another left only himself to answer.

He looked at the side of her face as though considering her more than her peculiar question, "… water."

"No," she breathed, gentle as a lover's caress. A delicate smile graced her pale completion as she turned her head to face him, "it becomes spring." Her small, sincere smile grew in both size and warmth, and her eyes glimmered with unrestricted happiness making her entire presence glow with an all-encompassing joy which seemed to offer itself up for the taking like loose change to a beggar.

For a moment, just one moment, his breath was lost in his throat. All his thoughts seemed to evaporate as his chest constricted. Who knew suffocation could be so sweet?

Her white-mist breath teased him as she let out a huff of air akin to a laugh. She turned back to the stream and, making no attempt to further the rather odd conversation, he did the same. He couldn't find any understanding for her apparent fascination with it: the water itself had been frozen not two nights before and most of the surrounding vegetation looked dead, the entire scene was… well, bleak, for lack of a better word.

"Sakura." Her soft voice jolted him from his thoughts.

"What?" he asked before he could even think, scolding himself for his lack consideration as to what to say and making himself, in his opinion, out to be a fool. He turned to regard her, only to find her looking at him, her face neutral.

"My name. Sakura is my name." she looked expectantly at him. Had he been anyone else his mouth would have formed a perfect "o". Her name seemed to summate her very existence, with her petal hair and forest eyes mirroring her namesake more effectively than any reflective surface ever could. His own appearance felt monotone by comparison, with his dead-of-night hair and eyes only made more striking by his pale, aristocratic features.

"Sasuke Uchiha." He had added his surname out of habit; his family, infamous for their prestige, promoted pride in their name. Most people would have reacted in some way to his clan's name, be it to cower from him, or to become all too friendly with him. She, however, did not show any acknowledgement to it, as though she was unaware of its implications.

She stepped down off the frosty rail and trued her whole body towards him.

"It's very nice to meet you, Sasuke," was all she said before pulling her knitted scarf, which had been looped around her neck, tighter and lifting the fabric higher so that it covered her frost bitten nose. She passed him began to walk the same way he had come; with every step she took the air around him seemed to grow a touch colder.

"Can I get your surname?" he asked. He didn't know why he had asked, he supposed it was because something inside him desperately wanted to get to know her. He had never felt this towards anyone, not to mention the fact that the way she acted towards him was a way in which he had never truly experienced from someone he had only just met- she treated him as an equal. Whilst he doubted there were a huge number of people with her name in town, and even less with her hair colour, it would be easier to find her again with her family name.

"Nope." She said as she glanced at him halfheartedly over her shoulder. He would have frowned if it wasn't for the traces of her smile he found in her eyes. He stood there, completely stunned, for what felt like the first time in his life, as she slowly disappeared down the frozen, dirt path.

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Author's Note: Okay, I don't really have much to say at this point as I don't want to give too much away, but I will say that this is an AU and that, for the majority of this story at least, events will be taken and viewed from primarily Sasuke's perceptive. There are some other things that was I was going to say but I think that will come later...

I'm a day late uploading... Sorry (although given my track record I think I'm doing alright...), I was out yesterday (and was having a great time)...

Thank you for reading!

Chia


	3. Chapter 3: Pride

**Chapter 3**

* * *

 **Pride**

He doesn't stop thinking about her. Small details of her he hadn't known he had picked up on blink into his mind every now and then. He wakes in the morning to the memory of the fragile slope of her nose. He flicks on his lights and sees the way her eyelashes fan her check as she blinks. He works around the image of the way her hair falls onto her scarf; the stray eyelash on her check; the perfect lines of lips as she smiles. He falls asleep to the lullaby of her voice. And as each day progresses and more details bloom in his mind, he wonders if this is the way his life will be now. He is becoming accustomed to this. But he finds that he does not mind.

* * *

She hadn't come to find him, so he won't search for her.

He had told her his surname. Yes, granted it was out of habit and he hadn't really intended to tell her, but he had still told her. It wasn't as though the Uchiha family were hard to find, it would be all too easy for her to find him. In fact given the size and success of the family business, anyone could easily find his family, even if they weren't looking in the first place.

But she hadn't been looking for him.

And it was for this reason he would not look for her.

Yes, it would have been easy to find her, even without knowing her surname. With the power he was born into, all it would have taken was one or two offhand comments to the right people, and he could have her full name, number and home address. His pride, however, prevented him from looking, no matter how much he yearned to behold her, even just once more.

* * *

Author's Note: Bake Off started yesterday! As it turns out, Wednesdays are the days everything happens in my life... - If you have not already figured, I'm British (this will probably become more apparent with my spelling etc. the more I write), and yesterday was the start of this seasons The Great British Bake Off, which I have been excited about since last year's ended, therefore, you may find me updating on Thursdays instead of Wednesdays sometimes...

Okay, so this is only a short chapter, but that's more to do with the way I want to structure this...

Thank you for reading

Chia


	4. Chapter 4: Stranger Things

**Chapter 4**

* * *

 **Stranger Things**

* * *

Sasuke was eating breakfast with his best friend in some hole-in-the-wall café when the blond brought it up.

He had enquired about his wellbeing as a priest might enquire about his soul. Concern had danced across the blonde's face and left Sasuke to wonder at how easily his childhood friend could pick up on his emotions.

"Come on man, it practically oozes off you. You might as well been wearing a name badge saying 'Hey, I'm Sasuke Uchiha, more depressed than usual'! So what happened?" his friend (might-as-well-be-brother) asked as he waved his arms in a frenzy of wild movements, a habit he had picked up somewhere long before Sasuke had met him and that Sasuke had long since given up on trying to stop.

"She doesn't want to see me again." Sasuke had muttered under his breath in the vain hope that his friend would let it drop upon not hearing what was said. He should have known he would have no such luck: his friend had "selective-sonic-hearing", as explained to him by said friend's mother.

"Don't follow." He said, his summer-sky-blue eyes blinking in confusion.

"Naruto, I met this girl, and she doesn't want to see me again." Sasuke growled through his clenched teeth, practically seething at the prospect of getting relationship advice from Naruto of all people.

Naruto's face broke into a huge, devious grin, as he snickered at his best friend's statement.

"Idiot, if you breathe a word of this to anyone, I swear I wi-"

"Relax. As long as you spill your guts to me, I will be as silent as the grave. And anyway, did you not hear yourself? You sounded like one of those clingy girls from TV complaining that their boyfriend didn't call,"

"I did not." Sasuke glared at his friend who still seemed to be taking far too much delight in his situation. He briefly wondered how long Naruto would survive if one day he awoke with the ability to shoot deadly lasers out of his eyes every time he glared; he assumed not long.

"Whatever, dude, just tell me what happened… or would you rather explain to your brother, or even your mother, that the girl you fancied doesn't fancy you?" he knew all too well how to play this miniscule piece of information Sasuke had slipped, and could tell that his friend was already picturing the consequences if such information were to find its way into the ears of his family.

God, Naruto loved blackmail.

"I met this girl a couple of days ago, we talked for a bit, and I haven't seen her since."

" _Is that it?_ You're this hung up over a girl you met once? I thought this would be more interesting than that!" Naruto exclaimed as he resumed devouring of his morning ramen.

"I told her my name and she didn't come looking for me."

"You really expected a girl you met _once_ to come and find you. Are you serious?" Naruto paused, looking up from his bowl to stare at Sasuke in bewilderment, which only deepened when his friend gave him his "of course I'm fucking serious" look.

"And she told you her name?" Naruto, too busy staring at Sasuke as though trying to solve a complex sum, missed his next mouthful of noodles slip off his chopsticks and fall back into his bowl with a muted plop. Sasuke merely nodded in response. "So you didn't think that _you_ should look for _her_ if you're the one who is so worked up about this?" Naruto broached as he put his chopsticks in his mouth, only to take them out and look at them, slightly dazed by the lack of food, before digging them back into his meal.

"…hm." Sasuke looked pointedly away from the blond as he took a long sip of his tea, which had long since gone cold.

After an hour, and much nagging from Naruto, Sasuke had told his best friend about that strange day on the bridge with the strange girl who had strange, pink hair. Once he had finished he regarded his friend, who was giving him a strange fox-like grin.

"I know who she is."

Whilst many would swear that stranger things had occurred in the history of the universe, in that moment Sasuke would beg to differ.

* * *

Author's Note: The chapter I have been working on recently has been giving me some trouble, it's quite a way from this one, thus shouldn't really effect release dates etc., it's just been rather vexing. I've written lots of pieces around it, it's just this one bit... I'm sure however, I am close to getting it, so it's nothing to worry about (not that anyone was anyway).

I always find writing author's notes slightly strange, there are lots of things I could say, but I'm not particularly sure that anyone would be especially interested. There is also lots I would like to say about this fic, but haven't got to the appropriate chapters yet- it's confusing trying to remember what I wanted to say about this chapter when I wrote it because it's such a long time ago...

Anyway, enough of my ramblings :)

Thank you for reading and next week we will be getting a bit more insight into Sakura's character and how Naruto knows her... bum-bum-BUM

Thanks again

Chia


	5. Chapter 5: The Coincidence in who we are

**Chapter 5**

* * *

 **The Coincidence in who we are**

* * *

Had Sasuke Uchiha not been Sasuke Uchiha he might have regarded his best friend with a look of shock.

Had Sasuke Uchiha not been Sasuke Uchiha he might have leapt from his seat, grabbed his friend by the collar and demanded that he tell him exactly who she is.

But Sasuke Uchiha was Sasuke Uchiha. So he sat calmly in his seat and looked expectantly at his friend across the table, pretending he wasn't feeling excitement and apprehension burning through his veins.

"God, you're no fun! You could have at least gasped dramatically!" Naruto pouted (as was in his nature to do so in such situations as these) and Sasuke glared ferociously back at him (as was, likewise, in his nature). Seeing no further comment would be made in the advancement of dramatic effect, the likes of which Naruto felt this revelation called for, he let out a great sigh like an easterly wind bringing in the cold weather. "Sakura Haruno. Grandma Tsunade used to be her guardian- for a bit at least, she's a doctor -Tsunade taught her, of course. We've known each other for ages; I just assumed you two had met-"

"We have now. No thanks to you," Sasuke bit. He didn't know why he was getting so worked up over this; it was a matter of little consequence. The identity of this woman, and thus their eventual reunion, was in no way imperative to him; it had not been the primary focus of his existence since the first moment he saw her, and it would certainly in no way be life changing. Or at least that is what the more reasonable part of his brain (which was also, apparently, prone to fits of denial) told him.

"Well, it's your own fault. You would have met her eventually anyway; she is coming to _your_ family's Christmas party after all." Naruto threw back nonchalantly. Pushing his now empty bowl away from him, he signalled the waitress to get the bill. Sasuke merely stared at Naruto, not only had his best friend known her, but she was coming to his own family's Christmas party. Despite the fact that the Uchiha's Christmas parties were renown for being huge, the scale of this coincidence felt too great to be real.

"The party is months away, I need to see her before that." Although it was out of character, he craved to see her, to talk to her. He was drawn to her, and couldn't help but feel that their second meeting had a certain inevitability to it, as though he were sick and suffering, and she was death, he couldn't help the urgency he felt at their reunion.

A small crease bent its way around Naruto's right eyebrow. His normally carefree face became serious and Sasuke was struck by the briefest of thoughts that it did not suit him well.

"I don't know, man. I don't think it's a good idea…" he sighed as he got up from their table and shrugged on his coat. Sasuke copied the actions as he stared at his friend, his mind at a complete loss.

How could it possibly _not_ be a good idea?

* * *

Author's Note: Apologies for being late. I had actually meant to upload this chapter some time ago now, however, in my final proof read I felt compelled to add a few bits and pieces, by the time I had done this it was around one in the morning and I thought I should sit with the changes for a while (and at least read through them a few more times) before publishing. Thank you for your patience.

Just to let anyone who is interested know: it may be a while until the next upload, although I have been trying to keep my schedule to once a week, this may prove to be increasingly more difficult in the coming few weeks, I am however, committed to updating _at the very least_ once a month (although sincerely hope that this time frame will look more like once ever other week).

Thank you to all of you who have reviewed (I find it very heart warming that someone has taken the time to tell me what they think) and also to those who have added this story to their alerts or favourites. I can't express my appreciation enough.

Thank you for reading and please feel free to let me know what you think so far.

Chia


	6. Chapter 6: Why

**Chapter 6**

* * *

 **On Snowmelt and a Mutual Acquaintance / Why**

* * *

The old, rusty bell coughed its brittle chime goodbye, as the heavy glass door of the café swung closed behind the two. The pavements outside were mostly covered in watery sludge that had once been snow before it had been trampled by the hard boats of too many people. Despite this, the air was still and biting, and Sasuke suspected that, come tomorrow morning, this snowmelt would have frozen over to form thick patches of black ice, especially if the pieces of polite small talk he had overheard on the streets where to be believed.

"Why is it not a good idea?" Sasuke finally questioned.

"Look, Sasuke, it's hard to explain -and it's definitely nothing personal," Sasuke's head snapped to Naruto in surprise, all at once anxious to hear what his friend was going to say but not quite certain he really wanted to know.

"I didn't think _it was_ personal," Sasuke injected, earning him what may have been identified as a look of irritation, if one was inclined to believe that the blond could feel such emotions as annoyance…

"She's just… I don't know…" Naruto stumbled, running his hands through his sunshine hair and making strange gestures as he tried to convey something which seemed impossible to communicate with words alone. "She's different, and complicated, and I don't think you guys would exactly work out. And have you thought about how stalker-ish you're going to seem. And-"

"You're not making any sense," Sasuke interrupted, becoming impatient with the blonde's explanation, or lack thereof.

"Look, for the sake of full disclosure: I used to have a crush on her when we were kids-" Sasuke's eyes widened and he stared at his friend in what he would assume to be as close to a gape as he would ever come. For a moment Sasuke's steps faulted, his mind reeling at this new revelation.

After a pause, Sasuke bit out: "You've known her since you were kids!", first choosing to tackle the minor issue with his friend's statement in the hope that his brain could process the fact that his best friend, whom he had known for what felt like eternity, used to have a crush on the mysterious girl he had become so transfixed by, yet all this time had not known.

"Yeah… that's why I'm kind of surprised you haven't met her before, but then… at the same time I guess it's not _that_ surprising. I mean, I can't really think of a time you would have met her, especially with all that time you spent away, and it's not like you've ever gone to any of Ino's parties or anything…" Naruto continued to scratch the back of his head and make uneasy gestures with his hands, clearly becoming less and less comfortable with the direction the conversation was going.

"She knows Ino too?" Sasuke asked, becoming increasingly more exasperated with the whole situation.

Sasuke had known Ino for quite some time. This did not, however, make them friends. She, like so many people from Sasuke's childhood, was little more than an acquaintance: a person he knew by name and by parents' occupations, as he had been brought up to do so. Ino Yamanaka, whose parents owned a flower shop and were both certified psychiatrists, often perceived as the best in their fields. Ino Yamanaka whom he had met during one of his family's business functions. Ino Yamanaka whom always invited him to her parties even though he never once came, nor intended to do so. Ino Yamanaka whom had a painfully obvious crush on him for years during their childhood. Yes, he could pick Ino out of a line-up, but he knew little else about neither the person herself nor the company she kept.

"Of course, they were basically inseparable as kids; they still are best friends." Naruto stated in the same way one might explain a simple concept to a child.

Well shit. Apparently coincidence didn't quite cover it. How about too far-fucking-fetched to be real?

"…And you had a crush on her?" Sasuke asked, his mind finally processing the fact that his best friend _could have_ had a crush on this girl without him realising it, especially given the amount of Naruto's mindless chatter his brain had become accustomed to tuning out in their childhood.

"Who, _Ino_? No." Naruto look scandalised, only to be met with Sasuke's deadpan. "Oh, Sakura… yeah…" he chuckled apprehensively at his own mistake.

"Is that why you don't want me to meet her?" Sasuke was unfamiliar with the basics of 'The Guy Code', but was fairly certain that this was part of it.

"No, it's not like that. I _did_ have a crush on her, but I got over it, especially after I started dating Hinata. I suppose Sakura kind of set us up, now that I think about it… Anyway, I got to know her more; she's more like a sister to me now." Seeing the look on Sasuke's face Naruto sighed and stopped walking so as to look at his friend more seriously. "Listen, you're both my best friends, practically family now. I just don't want to see anyone get hurt."

"I'm not going to hurt her." Sasuke said, surprised that Naruto had not taken this fact as a given from the first moment he had disclosed their first encounter to him.

Naruto simply gave him a strained and somehow uneasy smile before he continued making his way down the damp street. It was not the first time in his life (although such things were certainly rare when they did come to pass), but Naruto knew he had just expressed something in that smile that was entirely lost on Sasuke.

As his friend fell into step besides him, Naruto looked up at the heavens and was almost certain that, with the way the air felt around him, the temperature would drop to below zero that night. It was going to be a cold winter this year.

* * *

Author's Note: Okay, so I lied... Sorry. There have been quite a few big changes in my life which has left little time to write or publish anything. However, with Christmas coming up I'm hoping to have more time available to get some writing done, thus I am going to continue trying to write and publish in the one month time frame.

The piece that I'm working on at the moment is quite considerably more fast paced and exciting and I'm looking forward to sharing that part with you, but you'll have to wait for a bit, as there's still a few chapters to get out before that. I'm just a little giddy about it and want to tell you about it (but I wont because spoilers ;p)

Thank you for reading and supporting my work, and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Chia


	7. Chapter 7: Internal Warfare

**Chapter 7**

* * *

 **Internal Warfare**

* * *

His hope of officially meeting her was finally restored, some two weeks after his friend's first refusal to set up such introduction, when Ino pressed a small, rectangular piece of card into his hand.

The invitation passed from her perfectly manicured fingers and into his larger, masculine hand. Her sin-coloured, pointed nails seemed to slip down the small length of the card as she released it into his care.

"It's a super-late birthday party because I went to Tenerife with my family for my actual birthday," she had explained offhandedly without his prompting. Ino had always made a point to personally deliver all invitations to each of her parties, Sasuke supposed it was a nice touch and, although he would never admit it out loud, it always made him feel too ashamed to decline such invitation to her face.

"I know it's kind of short notice, I generally give out the invitations a month before but, well, Tenerife… It's at my place so no plus ones I'm afraid," She said playfully. He had heard from Naruto (whom attended each and every one of these parties) that Ino enjoyed months of painstaking planning in advance of each event she hosted, creating massive celebrations full of people, all of which she somehow knew.

"My phone number is on the invitation for the RSVP." She finished, offering Sasuke a coy smile. Despite this, the softness in her eyes seemed to communicate her belief that he wouldn't be attending once again, but had offered him the invitation anyway. In a way, it was testament to the kind of person she was: caring without perhaps fully intending to be.

"I can come," he said, feeling fractionally guilty for simply accepting her invitation after all these years in order to see her best friend.

"Oh." The honest surprise that crossed her features only slightly deepened his shallow pool of guilt, making his puddle become… well, maybe a kid's paddling pool.

Unfortunately for him, her initial surprise quickly faded into curiosity, and after a pause she asked: "Any reason in particular? Or should I just gloss over this and accept you presence?" Her eyes gleamed in a way Sasuke had come to recognise as sinister, despite others often deciphering such looks as mischievous.

Internally, Sasuke blanched (only internally of course), however from the way Ino's eyes began to shimmer – actually shimmer!- Sasuke suspected she somehow could tell, as though she were inside his mind, prodding him with a hot poker to see how high she could make him jump. He presumed that this was the result of being brought up by two psychiatrists.

"I just don't happen to be doing anything that day." he said coolly, channelling his Uchiha genes to appear blasé whilst internally congratulating himself for his quick mind.

"Oh, and exactly which day would that be?" she placed her hand on her cocked hip, looking increasingly more like a wild west heroine, quick to draw and even quicker to shoot. As though to emphasise her point, she pointedly eyed the invitation in his hand, where he had neglected to even glance at it.

Shit.

* * *

Author's Note: New chapter! I know this chapter is quite a bit shorter than some of the others, however, with any luck, I will be spending the next week writing some more so as to keep ahead of things, therefore, as long as everything goes to plan, I will hopefully be adding a new chapter in May.

Some musings on the chapter: I thought I would have trouble with writing Ino's character, especially given the fact that I have been reading a lot of Naruto fanfiction recently which gives a far more caricatured image of her character. Surprisingly, I had a lot of fun writing her character and coming up with ideas around how to present her. Personally, I enjoy using contrasting imagery and characteristics in my writing, which you will probably become more aware of further on in the story, as I feel that this best conveys a sense of complexity that I have always found fascinating about people. But enough of my ramblings...

Thank you all for reading and supporting the fanfiction community, and please feel free to let me know what you think.

Chia


	8. Chapter 8: A Plausible Excuse

**Chapter 8**

* * *

 **A Plausible Excuse**

* * *

Saturday in a week's time. That was which day. And as it turns out: he _wasn't_ actually free on that particular day.

Sasuke's mind threw him back to all those years in which he _had_ been free for one of Ino's parties and yet concocted excuse after excuse as to why he couldn't attend. Each time, his brother and Naruto would tease him relentlessly about it: coming up with increasingly more implausible and eccentric fabrications for him to use to justify his absence from the event. They had found it especially amusing when Sasuke had been caught off guard once and, in a moment of irrational panic, had actually used one of their less outrageous suggestions.

He'd forgotten to inform Ino in advance and (having been brought up to believe that invitations should be accepted or declined, if not in person, then at least with a phone call) had called her on the night, only to forget his pre-decided excuse. With his mind reeling for any reason not to go to her party, his lips spilled out the first thing his panicked mind had stumbled upon. It had taken his brother (who, coincidentally, was walking past his door when such nonsense fell from his mouth) months to stop ribbing him about the _alleged_ incident in which he had _apparently_ trodden on a pair of hair straighteners and badly burned the bottom of his foot. Although whenever this supposed debacle is brought up, Sasuke is quick to deny ever owning a pair of hair straighteners or feeling the need to do so.

In his mind, Sasuke could still hear the muted chuckles of his brother outside his bedroom door, which had failed to close properly as it so often did.

This thought brought him back to his present predicament: his brother.

Unfortunately for Sasuke, on the day in question, he'd already made plans with said brother. Normally this wouldn't have been an issue, with the party not stating until later in the evening there would have been plenty of time to spend the day with his brother and still make the event (and with certain people none the wiser), however, the plan had been to return to their parents' house for dinner, where they would stay the night. Leaving early would be certain to raise questions… the kind of questions which would be difficult for him to answer without causing suspicion…

Seeing very few viable options to choose from, Sasuke dialled Itachi's number.

They exchanged warm greetings and pleasantries, the likes of which are, no doubt, commonplace amongst close siblings. However, such things were rarely found in the phone calls shared between the two brothers, both of who were hardly enthusiastic about speaking over the phone… or small talk, for that matter. Nonetheless, in this instance a measure of… mutual understanding, if you will, was shared. Both were aware of the fact that neither of the two would call without distinct purpose, but with Sasuke eager to delay supplying his brother with ammunition for ridicule, and Itachi being a patient man who could read his little brother with the skill only found in those old hand at their craft, the brothers engaged in meaningless chatter, whiling away the time until either Sasuke grew enough resolve to commit himself to his fate or Itachi plainly asked him why he had called. But Itachi is a patient man. And excellent at driving his brother into action without Sasuke even realising he had been manipulated into doing so.

It took approximately three minutes for Sasuke to break. Itachi would have to admit it was not his best record, but Sasuke was being particularly evasive with whatever it was he was going to say. Had it taken much longer, Itachi would have been forced to "bring out the big guns", as it were, which involved describing, in painstaking detail, what transpired the last time Itachi had invited his friendship group to the Uchiha household.

"I actually called because something came up and I'm not going to be able to make it to dinner with the parents, but I can still meet up during the day if you want." Sasuke said, thoroughly bored of the self-inflicted pain of having to engage in small talk (which had included exhausting the topics of their overall health, recent events in their lives and the weather). There was a pause.

"Tell me Sasuke, do you need more time to herd your llamas?" Sasuke could practically see his brother's smirk through the phone.

"No, I-" he began to growl but was interrupted by his brother's smooth voice.

"Are you mourning the death of your pet rock?"

"Itachi-" it came out as more of a hiss than his brother's name.

"It's not the hair straighteners again, is it?"

* * *

Author's Note: Okay, this came out a lot later than I had planned and I'm sorry. The last few months have been strange and my moods have been all over the place, and as I wasn't as happy with this chapter as some of the others I neglected to put the time in it needed to get it published (on the up side I did manage to write some stuff for later on that I'm really pleased with).

Reading past reviews has really helped fuel me into action with this, so I'd once again like to thank everyone who has taken the time to leave a message. Thanks also to everyone who follows / have favourited this story. I'd also like to thank my sister, just because I can. I know you'll never read this (and I think I'd be pretty embarrassed if you ever did) but good luck with the new step you are taking in your life and know that I love you.

Thank you for reading and supporting the fanfiction community, any comments are, of course, welcome. :)

Chia


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